- Places still available at this must-attend training and education opportunity -

New York City — The inaugural AES@NAMM Pro Sound Symposium: Live & Studio kicks off in a couple weeks with a rich and varied educational program of training sessions. The four-day international symposium from the Audio Engineering Society will be held from January 25 to 28 at the 2018 NAMM Show in Anaheim, CA, and is targeted at working professionals in the live sound, recording and performance-audio communities. “Our unique program will spotlight the application of audio science and technology to sound-system operations, along with studio workflow practices,” states AES president David Scheirman. “We still have places available at these sessions for pro-audio professionals to come and learn from our seasoned experts. And attendance is highly affordable for AES members: Just $99 for a full-day session; $69 for a half-day session. Non-members can join the Society to receive these discounted prices."

The full program of Training Academies and related sessions on line-array technologies, live-sound consoles, wireless systems, in-ear monitoring and studio environments, in addition to tutorials on system measurement and optimization, can be accessed here: https://www.namm.org/thenammshow/2018/events/education/aes. Classes will be held within the Anaheim Hilton Hotel’s NAMM U Education Center, adjacent to a new pro-audio exhibit space. Several Chinese- and Spanish-language sessions on selected pro-audio topics will be curated and presented by industry experts.

“Our Social Events Program includes Live Sound, Lessons Learned, a Press Invitational to honor Audio Analysts’ Albert Leccese,” Scheirman adds. “We have also organized an AES@NAMM Student Mixer, in addition to a reception honoring women working in professional audio, which is organized by the Society’s new AES Diversity and Inclusion Committee.”

Main Stage: Live sessions will focus on live sound-system mixing and concert system engineering, with input from top-tier rental sound company owners and leading FOH mixers. “We have individual presentations and tutorials on live digital mixing console automation, virtual soundchecks, low-frequency management in live concert venues, world-tour logistics and more,” says Scheirman, “in addition to daily panels on a range of live-sound topics.” Speakers joining veteran FOH host Robert Scovill include Rat Sound founder Dave Rat, Sound Image president Dave Shadoan, ATK/Audiotek president Michael MacDonald, and several surprise guests. Pat Baltzell of Baltzell Audio Design will discuss mixing live entertainment segments for the Superbowl halftime shows.

Hosted by producer/engineer/author Bobby Owsinski, Main Stage: Studio presentations occur hourly during all four days; topics will range from Outside-the-Box Recording Techniques and Virtual Microphones to Alternative Studio Design and DIY Projects, and also focus on business, social media and creativity topics.

Hosted by John Murray, the Sound System Measurement & Optimization Workshop will include sessions on AFMG’s SysTune, Rational Acoustics’ Smaart and Studio Six Digital’s Audio Tools. Sessions include Bruce Olson addressing Delay Fill Alignment, Charlie Hughes’ famous Subwoofer Series, Jamie Anderson on Multi-Mic Measurement, Chris Tsanjouries on Crossing the Art/Science Line and Andrew Smith on Choosing the Right Frequency Analyzer.

The Technical Papers Sessions of peer-reviewed papers that are standard fare for such AES gatherings will be book-ended by Chinese-language sessions on selected pro-audio topics curated and presented by Bing Li, who chairs the AES Guangzhou Professional Section, together with Xiaowei Fan, lecturer on acoustics at Communication University of China, Nanjing College. Spanish-language sessions on studio recording workflow processes will also be presented and curated by Juan de Dios Martin, an experienced producer/engineer and Avid Pro Tools practitioner.